My mom died in 2002. She was a woman truly ahead of her time. On her own, she left her small town of Derry, NH at age 17 and moved to Washington DC in search of information about her brother who'd been captured along with thousands of other GIs during the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in late 1941. She ultimately learned that Uncle Peter died of dysentery. Upon arriving in DC, she got a job at the Pentagon, later enlisting in the Women's Army Corps, even working in personnel for the CIA for a few years, and ultimately graduating from UNH on the GI Bill. After 30 years of adventure, she settled in the suburbs in order to raise my brother and me. I've been going through her diaries, letters to the editor, song lyrics, random scribblings, army photos, etc. (there is an enormous amount of papers) as I'm selecting the items that best speak to who she was and I'm distributing copies to family and friends. Among the highlights are correspondence with astronaut Alan Shephard who was her kindergarten boyfriend, a nasty back and forth exchange with the arch conservative editor of the Manchester Union Leader William Loeb (he had written a scathing piece attacking a gay group organizing in the early 70s at UNH, and mom would have none of that), correspondence to and from her author idol, Erma Bombeck, and everything under the sun that related to her times, her raising us bratty kids, her marriage, and her frustration at feeling incredibly stifled in suburbia USA with limited outlets for her creative and political impulses. As an adult, I have gained such a deeper perspective into who she was. I was so fortunate to be her son.

I came across a letter dated May 1, 1968, and I want to share its contents. It's from US Senator Edward Brooke, Republican of Massachusetts. It's apparent mom had written to him in the wake of the assassination of MLK. Little did they know, they were a month away from RFK's assassination.

Dear Mrs. T.,

I fully concur in your support of a strong gun sale control law.

Congress should have acted a long time ago. I think the need is even more obvious than ever. I hope that this will have prompt consideration. It will continue, as in the past, to have my full backing.

Thank you for sharing your thinking with me.

Sincerely yours,

Edward W. Brooke

It's heartening how far we've come on the gay rights issue and tragic how we've regressed with regard to gun violence. Mom quite rightly felt passionately about both issues, like I said, truly ahead of her time.

Peter T.